Raul is a geologist by training and he was a mineral collector for the past 25 years. He started his passion with minerals self-collecting in his home country Spain, and assembled a fine mineral collection of Spanish Minerals, including the sough after old timers, silver sulfosalts from Hiendelaencina, pyromorphites from El Horcajo, Sphalerites from Aliva, Cinnabar from Almaden, etc. As a young geologist, we worked in the fluorite mines of Asturias, where his contacts with collectors, miners and access to pockets allowed him to assemble one of the finest collection of Spanish Fluorites from that region.

His commitment to promoting mineral collecting is translated in several publications in mineral magazines such as Revista de Minerales, Mineral Up, Le Regne Mineral and most recently in The Mineralogical Record.